Capital of Culture 2024

Premiere: Opera in Hallstatt with a strong soloist

Up close and personal with the audience: singer Christa Ratzenböck in Hallstatt.(Bild: Solane van Weele)

First insights into the mobile chamber opera "Salz" in Hallstatt, soprano Christa Ratzenböck impressed in a solo role. The production is to come to Linz next year. "Krone" critic Johannes Sonnberger attended the preview at a particularly atmospheric location.

The former salt office in Hallstatt and the novel "Kali - Eine Vorwintergeschichte" by Peter Handke are the starting points for the mobile chamber opera "Salz" by German composer Gerhard Stäbler. At the weekend there were only two performances in Hallstatt to give an initial insight: a mythical journey of a woman to the land of her childhood.

Cultural upheavals and contemporary history as well as motifs from the mining industry are the themes. Only a prelude of the chamber opera, a co-production of the Capital of Culture and the Landestheater Linz, was shown.

View of the historic Salzamt (building at the top back)(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

Christa Ratzenböck is a great and sought-after singer from Upper Austria.(Bild: Honorar)

Convincing in singing and music
Christa Ratzenböck impressed as a searching woman with a wonderfully dark mezzo-soprano, also secure in the highest heights, dramatically shaped. Accordionist Filip Erakovic provided virtuoso solos. The Luna String Quartet from Holland played with full commitment. Hermann Schneider navigated clearly through the libretto as narrator. The set by Florian Parbs showed the sadness of the miners as well as hope, for example in the form of a staircase full of apples.

Mobile is "suitable for conversion"
We can look forward to the complete chamber opera, which is scheduled for the 2025/26 season at the Landestheater. As a mobile production, it is suitable for the conversion phase in the building on Linz's Promenade, which begins in 2025.